• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Sermo Humilis

Humble Speech

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
  • Show Search
Hide Search
You are here: Home / Just a Thought / The Sin Bearer

The Sin Bearer

June 27, 2019 By David Trounce 1 Comment

Reading Time: 3 minutes
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

The Sin Bearer

We tend to have a petty view of sin. Not that we think too little of it, but that we think too much of it. We see our sin and see no hope. No hope of serving a God who smiles upon us. No hope of being in His company without experiencing His unhappy looks.

You and I are sin bearers. Sin kills those who bear it, and so we die. But God has come into this world and become our sin-bearer. This means, beyond our wildest hopes, that sin can truly be separated from the sinner in such a way as to leave the sinner free from all condemnation.

The reason a murderer like Moses and a murderous adulterer like David could remain at their post was not that God had overlooked their sin but because wrath is not ultimate.

God has taken sin upon Himself and condemned it in the flesh of Jesus Christ.

For what the Law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin. He thus condemned sin in the flesh. (Romans 8:3)

Jesus became our sin-bearer. He bore our sin and it was the sin that was condemned. Not you, not me, not Jesus. It was the sin itself that God condemned and defeated in the flesh of Jesus – for our sakes.

And, since we are no longer sin-bearers, we are no longer condemned. In Christ, we are restored and now able to bear the true image of God.

There is an undercurrent of thought among many Christians that runs like this. “Yes, God has forgiven me for my sin, but given my sin, He can’t possibly like me very much. At best, He tolerates me on account of Jesus.”

The idea behind this is that God is essentially angry when He looks down from heaven and that what took Jesus to the cross was the wrath of an angry God. Angry at me, angry at you. But that is not what Jesus taught.

Jesus taught us that the motivation for going to the cross was God’s great love for this world (John 3:16).

Motivated by love and longing to save us from the power of sin and death, God lured sin out from its hiding place and onto Himself at the cross.

What appeared to be the defeat of the Son of Man turned out to be the ultimate defeat of sin and death.

There, in the humiliation of Christ on the cross, sin and death were humiliated in defeat. Sin was condemned, beaten, overcome.

Wrath is real, but the object of God’s wrath is tied to the sin in the sin-bearer. Separate that sin, place it on another, and the wrath is exhausted, sin defeated and you come out from under condemnation.

God loves this world, which means that He loves us. He demonstrated His love in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

This is why Paul could say that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).

In coming to Christ, you accepted that Jesus had borne your sin, which means you don’t bear it anymore. In coming to faith in Christ you saw that God had condemned the sin, which means you are now free from its power to condemn you.

A Domino factum est illud et est mirabile in oculis nostris
Psalm 118:23


Related...

What Marriage is For
Like Cutting Cheesecake with a Chainsaw
Where Grace Abounds
Charity

Filed Under: Just a Thought Tagged With: Condemnation, Cross, Sin

Reader Interactions

Trackbacks

  1. Jesus, A Friend in High Places – Sermo Humilis says:
    March 22, 2020 at 1:04 pm

    […] I’ve written about this before. Many Christians talk as if Jesus is just tolerating them and that really, deep down, He probably wants to smite them, because, let’s face it, we deserve it. […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Sermo Humilis

For the love of all things true, beautiful and good.


Welcome to Sermo Humilis, a digital home for biblical discipleship and cultural Christianity. A few new thoughts every week.

Please remember to like, subscribe and share. It really helps me out.

Subscribe for Weekly Updates

As per our Privacy Policy, we will never hand your information to a third party.

please check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Categories

  • Life in Christendom
  • Just a Thought
  • Who we Are Instead

Find us on Social

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Medium
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Support Sermo Humilis

If you enjoy Sermo Humilis and want to say thanks you can support me here.

Support

Series

Sidebar - Jesus Through all of Life Series Sidebar Series - The Life and Times of Jesus Sidebar Series - Proverbs - Let the Lady Speak Sidebar - Marriage Preparation Series

The Most Popular Guff

8 Weeks before Marriage – He Gave Himself to God

Marriage is not a two-way street in which both parties are commanded

Poster Girl

If you’re trying to kick off a new religion in a place that doesn't

Jesus, Insider Trading

In Matthew 6:19-24, Jesus teaches us that we must not be graspers,

Our Sneaking Suspicion

It is a common question that stumps many. “What about that innocent

Jesus, Women Who Serve

Until now, Jesus has used Capernaum as a base for ministry. He has

Those Glorious Little Mercies

The things that happen to Hannah could happen and do happen, to

Honest Lips

I once heard the story of a mother who’d been lied to by her

See and Hear

On the move? Weekly content can also be seen and heard via Youtube.

Topics

Beauty Children Comfort Creation Death Earth Eternity Evangelism Faith Fear Fellowship Food Forgiveness Gospel Grace Grief Guilt Heaven Holiness Jesus Joy Judgement Kingdom Law Life Love Marriage Mercy Money Prayer Redemption Rest Resurrection Sabbath Sacrifice Salvation Service Sheep Sin Slavery Suffering Truth Victory Weakness Wisdom

Footer

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Subscribe to Sermo Humilis

Find us on Social

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Support Sermo Humilis

If you enjoy Sermo Humilis and want to say thanks you can support me here.

Support

Copyright © 2021 · Sermo Humilis

John Piper - A Hallway of Mirrors